Historic St George's building to come down
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Christchurch Earthquake 2011
A day for Christchurch to remember
An historic hospital building is to be demolished.
Tenders for the demolition of St George's Hospital's heritage building will be sought next week, with work expected to begin in March.
St George's chief executive Tony Hunter said there was "no alternative but to proceed with demolition" of the category 2 building after it was badly damaged in the February earthquake.
The building, opened in 1928, had a special place in the history of the hospital but had been an "empty shell" since February.
St George's Hospital was governed by a society made up of about 90 community members, many of whom were descendants of Canterbury's early settlers, who were charged with building the hospital, Hunter said.
"Every effort was made to retain it, and extensive engineering assessments were carried out by both our insurers' engineers and our own consulting engineers, but in the end it was found not to be economically viable, nor indeed possible, to repair the building adequately to meet the new structural codes."
Plans were under way for another building on the 1300-square-metre site.
Services housed in the building, including maternity, meeting rooms, the main reception and administration, had been moved to other parts of the hospital.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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paul kennedy, it says 'st georges hospital' so if you live in chch we all know its in merivale :D
...and nowhere in this article does it mention where the hell this building is!
This is heart breaking news, I delivered my daughter here and felt incredibly supported by all concerned in her delivery, at 22 she is returning from the UK to see her hometown and I know this will be very sad news for her, as she took great pride in being born at this lovely Hospital. My very best wishes and support to all staff who will not be returning here. Kia Kaha, Louella
They have now reopened maternity beds at st georges, though not yet doing births. hopefully they will get a wriggle on and build a fancy new building and increase the services they were delivering pre earthquake.
Save your history Christchurch! Pull it down, keep as much of the interior as possible as rebuilt it as close as possible to the original. What have you been paying insurance for all these years? Make the insurer play the game.
A year doesn't make something historic, events, and people do. What is St Georges History? Many of my family were born there, some have died there (or soon after leaving). Tell me why this is Historic as opposed to just old, were there any discoveries to help mankind or was it just a nursing home for the rich?
KH it seems maternity are open and working in another part of the hospital.
Whilst its sad it coming down. It's time to pull it down and rebuild as soon as. Maternity in Chch needs you open again as soon as possible.
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@Paul Kennedy #7: "...and nowhere in this article does it mention where the hell this building is!"
You go past it every time you drive down Papanui Road. I know where it is and I haven't lived in Christchurch for 25 years.